About the Book :

This volume is a collection of eighteen research papers published from time to time in different journals by Professor Sachchidananda on changing social realities in Village India. The book is divided into three parts. The first part deals with the impact of the democratic process in independent India on the caste system leading to a change in its nature, the efforts of Mahatma Gandhi for the eradication of untouchability, the emergence of the scheduled caste elite, the rising tide of caste Hindu violence against the Harijans and the changing group relations on account of the policy of protection and discrimination. The second part brings out various facets of rural development such as the strategies adopted by the government, the role of youth in development, problems in reaching development to the rural of youth in development, problems in reaching development to the rural poor, the impact of land reforms on them, the changing character of peasant society in India and the various dimensions of the rural family in west Bihar. The third part details the study of social change in India in historical perspective, the differential impact of television in villages, the role of the voluntary agencies in rural development and the challenges faced by them in the Eighties and the growing ramifications and sociological implications of corruption. Deep sociological insights of the author are reflected in all the papers in this volume.

About Author :

Sachchidananda, currently Director of the Sulabh Institute of Development Studies, has bee a pioneer in the field of anthropological studies in Bihar. He was educated in the Patna University and the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Founder of the Post graduate Department of Anthropology at Ranchi, he was later Director of the Bihar Tribal Research Institute, Ranchi and of the A. N. Sinha institute of Social Studies at Patna. He was also the Vice Chancellor of Ranchi University. His wide ranging research interests cover culture change in tribal areas, shifting cultivation, social dimension of agricultural development , Harijan educated elite, women's rights, educational problems of the disadvantaged sections of the population, voluntary action in tribal areas and socio cultural dimensions of development. He has contributed a large number of papers to research journals in India and abroad and published twenty three books in Sociology and Anthropology. He has also edited the four volume "Profile of Indian Tribes (1995)". A past President of the Anthropology Section of Indian Science Congress, he is also the recipient of R.P. Chanda and S.C. Roy Medals for distinguished work in Anthropology from the Asiatic Society of Bengal.